“Conglo…merate?”
Rui was perplexed by the name of the monster he had never heard before.
“What kind of monster is it, and what kind of abilities does it have?”
Rui throws out the question, but Felix stops him with a hand.
“Let’s talk about the details after we get to the Underground City. More importantly, shouldn’t you be worried about your companion? He might have special abilities, but challenging a Dark Knight (Donkel Ritter) alone is too reckless. He might be dead by now!”
Felix pleads earnestly, but Rui smiles and shakes his head.
“Yuma won’t lose to a monster like that. He’ll be fine.”
Felix looks dubious at Rui, who shows confidence.
“Hey, Felix. Let’s go quickly, staying still is too risky.”
A skinhead man behind Felix raises his voice. He is bleeding from his abdomen and looks quite distressed.
Felix says, “Ah, right,” and steps out from the shadow of the building.
“Let’s go anyway. We’ll talk about it later.”
Rui nods and runs through the devastated city with Felix and the others.
◇◇◇
At the entrance of the Underground City, Luis leaned against the wall, resting his back against it.
He wasn’t doing anything in particular, just gazing blankly outside. Felix said he was going to settle things with Tzore’s people, but originally, it was Luis who shot Tzore’s man.
If Felix and everyone else died… Luis couldn’t help but feel anxious.
Even if they came back, it would take quite a while. He knew it, but he couldn’t help but wait for everyone’s return.
At that moment, he saw figures in the distance on the road.
“Ah!”
Luis blinked. It was definitely Felix and the others. Before he could think, his body moved, and Luis ran out.
“What’s wrong, Felix!? It’s only been about two hours since you left.”
“Luis. This place is dangerous, get back underground immediately!”
Looking at them, everyone had tense faces.
Wondering what had happened, Luis noticed that there was someone he didn’t recognize in the group.
A young man with brown hair, his face looked Asian.
“Felix, who is that person?”
“We’ll talk later. Let’s go down.”
Everyone went down the stairs leading to the Underground City and proceeded through the dimly lit premises. Old people and children who had been waiting for Felix and the others to return rushed towards them all at once.
Felix pushed through the crowd, saying, “I’ll explain later, just let us through!” and moved forward.
After walking for a while, the group stopped in front of a door at the back of the premises.
Felix opened the door and said, “This way,” and went inside first. Several men followed after him, entering the room.
◇◇◇
“Now, let’s start by having you tell us about yourself. Why did you come to Germany… and why to a place like this of all places?”
Felix asks with a furrowed brow.
They are now in a small room with a bare light bulb. There is a table and several chairs, and some liquor bottles are lined up on a shelf by the wall.
‘So this is their base,’ Rui thought, looking around with curiosity.
“Hey, are you listening?”
“Ah, yes… sorry. We are Seekers dispatched by the Japanese government. The German government requested aid from Japan, and Japan promised to defeat the monsters in exchange for Magic Gems…”
“I see… so there was such an exchange between the governments.”
Felix puts his hand on his chin and thinks seriously about something.
After a while, Felix recommends a seat to Rui, saying, “Ah, sorry. Please sit down for now.”
Rui says, “Thank you,” pulls out a chair, and sits down.
Felix also takes a seat, and a large, skinhead man sits next to him.
“I’m sorry for the late introduction. This is Werner. He assists me in this Underground City and keeps everyone together.”
“I’m Werner. Nice to meet you.”
Werner reached out his hand across the table. Rui also reached out his hand and shook it firmly.
“Nice to meet you too. Is your stomach wound okay?”
“Ah, I’ve had first aid, so it’s fine.”
Werner says brightly. His hand is large and gives a very strong impression.
Behind the chairs where Felix and Werner are sitting, two men are standing and looking at them.
They are glaring with sharp eyes. They probably don’t trust him completely yet.
“It’s a shame that you came all the way to Germany, but the German government has already been destroyed. It will be difficult to keep the promise. That’s too bad.”
“Is that so… I have seen the devastation in Germany. I would like to know more about the current situation in detail, would you mind telling me?”
Felix and Werner exchange glances. When Werner nods slightly, Felix says, “Okay,” and looks straight at Rui’s face.
“First of all, immediately after the monsters appeared, there was no major chaos in this city. That’s because there were many excellent Seekers in Germany.”
Rui nods. The fact that the German Seekers are excellent is an undeniable fact.
“The Seeker Clan called ‘Schutzengel’ was particularly active.”
“I know them. I’ve fought with them in Japan before.”
The ‘Black Armor Subjugation Operation’ to defeat Yuma. Schutzengel participated in that battle.
Rui still clearly remembers the high level of skill of each individual and the certainty of their teamwork.
“I see, so you were acquaintances. In that case, you must be a pretty skilled Seeker too.”
Felix raises the corner of his mouth and looks happy. However, he immediately returns to a tense expression.
“We thought it would be okay to leave it to the Seekers. It was at that time. That guy appeared.”
“That guy? The Dark Knight (Donkel Ritter)?”
“No. At first, it started with a small anomaly. The number of monsters appearing decreased, and the city became more peaceful.”
“The number of monsters… decreased?”
Rui frowned and wondered. In every region now, the number of monsters is increasing day by day.
Something must have happened for the number of monsters to decrease.
“Was a large Dungeon captured?”
“No, there is no such fact. But for some reason, the number of monsters decreased, and the number of Seekers also decreased.”
“What do you mean? Was the Seekers’ placement changed?”
Felix closes his eyes and shakes his head quietly.
“That’s not it. Like a disappearance, Seekers disappeared one by one.”
“In that case, it must be monsters…”
“Ah, the first to notice was a Seeker from Schutzengel. They were wondering if the weak monster called Marionette had suddenly become stronger.”
Rui remembers the Marionettes he has fought so far. They certainly had combat power that was unbelievably strong.
He thought they were Enhanced Species, but is that not the case?
“They are said to be part of the ‘Conglomerate’.”
“Part? What do you mean by part?”
To Rui, who is puzzled, Felix takes a breath and continues the story.
“The Conglomerate is an aggregate. It incorporates Marionettes and other monsters into its body and is growing larger and larger. I’ve only seen its appearance once, but it’s a grotesque monster that makes up its body with all sorts of monsters. There is also a story that it surrounds the city of Berlin.”
“Surrounding the city? Is that even possible? No, if that were the case, we wouldn’t have been able to enter the city. We haven’t encountered such a monster.”
Felix laughs abruptly.
“Of course not. The Conglomerate doesn’t attack people who come into the city. It only attacks people who leave. Unfortunately, you can’t get out of here anymore.”